Right from the get-go The Idol was received with mixed reviews, and everything from normalising choking during sex to Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye‘s questionable acting has been up for debate.
Considering The Idol is by Sam Levinson, it’s truly no wonder that it’s caused such waves since it hit TV screens (and honestly, even before then).
As you may know, Levinson is behind HBO’s Euphoria which was without doubt a huge success, but he has been in the hot seat for his questionable creative choices.
Have you seen all the fuck-wild shit going on with The Idol‘s debut season? Gratuitous nipple shots. Knife play. 10-minute-long sex scenes. It’s not hard to see why it might’ve been cancelled.
All this being said, today we were given a look at what could’ve been if the show’s original director, Amy Seimetz, didn’t exit The Idol last year only for Levinson to then be brought in.
Twitter account @ViralMaterialz posted an assortment of photos of The Idol cast seemingly pre-Levinson, which was shared by @PopCrave with the caption, “Behind the scenes photos of the original direction of ‘The Idol’ before Sam Levinson took over.”
It’s giving Sleepover Club.
It’s giving “absolutely fucking not Linda, I’M Ginger Spice!”
It’s also giving a bit of Hannah Montana or Lizzie McGuire, depending on which double-life girlie you were committed to.
Full disclosure: I haven’t yet watched The Idol and you know why? I’m kinda fucking scared to.
But the pictures from behind the scenes of the show before Levinson took over? Now that’s a show I’d want to watch — and not just because I’m perpetually hanging onto a life before I paid bills and lost my virginity.
I’m not the only one.
“This looks like a Disney channel movie,” read a tweet from @lovennft.
One Twitter user wrote, “we were ROBBED” while another said, “Ok @StreamOnMax now make this version, I guarantee you will have a bigger fan base”.
Not only was the OG direction completely shat on, it also seems as though people were cut or recast for the product many are suffering through on our screens today.
It has also recently been revealed that child actress Arabella Grant was also originally cast on The Idol before “the show underwent significant changes, rewrites and reboots”.
According to the Instagram posts (managed by her parents), Grant was cast as the recurring role of Cami who was part of a family on the TV show. Jocelyn’s perhaps? We may never know.
“We wish you all could have seen this version of the show, it was a lot of fun to film!” one post read, sharing snaps of Arabella posing in a set chair and alongside Lily-Rose Depp.
WHERE IS THIS VERSION? I DEMAND IT.
